Cleveland, Ohio - After seeing multiple programs and individuals excel this past winter, the Lewis University Athletic Department landed in the top 50 nationally and within the top three of the GLVC in the NCAA Division II Learfield Directors' Cup winter sports standings.
Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships. The Division II standings include men's and women's basketball, fencing, skiing, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, wrestling and women's ice hockey. The Flyers garnered 171.5 points this winter to be tabbed 25th nationally and third within the GLVC. In total, Lewis has scored 297.5 points through the fall and winter, tying them with East Stroudsburg (Pa.) of the PSAC.
Four programs earned points for the Flyers with men's and women's swimming along with men's and women's indoor track and field sending multiple athletes to both NCAA Regionals and NCAA National competitions. In total, eight winter student-athletes made it to nationals with two swimmers and six track athletes accomplishing the feat.
At the pool under head coach Ian Disteldorf,
Juan Jose Castro (Cali, Colombia/Corporacion Cultural Colegio Aleman) and
Amelia Marsicek (Centennial. Col./Regis Jesuit) represented Lewis at the 2026 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships with Marsicek earning All-American status for her performances. For Marsicek, her crowing moment came in the 200 back A-Final as she placed fourth with a school-record time of 1:58.16 to earn All-American accolades. In her prelim round, she posted a time of 1:58.33 to punch her ticket to the final. Earlier in the weekend, she earned a 14th place finish in the 100 back, posting a time of 55.58. For Castro, he earned a 16th place finish and appeared in the B-Final of the 500 free with a final time of 4:26.91. He posted a time of 4:25.88 earlier in the competition to earn his top-20 ranking. As a program, the men's and women's swimming teams amassed 61 points towards the standings with 49 on the women's side and 12 on the men's side.
Away from the pool, head coach Dana Schwarting led the indoor track and field teams to a second place finish in the GLVC conference meet and sent six athletes to nationals. At the nationals meet in Virginia Beach, Va., multiple athletes earned All-American accolades across multiple events. Starting in the field,
Denise Hernandez (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North HS) claimed All-American status as she placed second in the long jump with a final distance of 6.18m. It marks the second consecutive year that Hernandez placed within the top two at indoor nationals. In the throwing circle,
Levi Graham (Plainfield, Ill./Minooka) finished with a distance of 22.32m in the weight throw to finish second and also claim All-American accolades. On the track,
Evan Horgan (Loves Park, Ill./Belvidere North) finished seventh in the 5000m (13:53.46) and runner-up in the 3000m (7:57.13), earning All-American accolades in both events. Dating back to cross country season, it is the third All-American accolade for the junior this year. The Flyers also had two individuals make their NCAA Nationals debut as
Neil Erasmus (George, South Africa/) competed in the heptathlon and
Abraham Christian (Huntley, Ill./Huntley HS) jumped in the high jump. Erasmus posted 678 points in the heptathlon and Christian secured a leap of 2.06m in their nationals debuts. Both track programs combined for 110.5 points with 47.5 on the women's side and 63.0 for the men.
The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup trophy, commonly known as the all-sports trophy, is presented to the top athletic department in the country each year.
Standings published midseason are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the spring season. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website at
www.directorscup.org.
For the latest news and updates on Lewis athletics, visit LewisFlyers.com and follow the Flyers on social media at @golewisflyers on Instagram and @LewisFlyers on X.
